On One Condition
by MaryJane Weasley
Summary: Draco is a man of tradition and goes to ask Mr. Weasley for permission to marry his daughter. He soon finds out that the Weasley family have a way of complicating things. Oneshot.


**On One Condition…**

Day 1

_All right. Deep breaths. You can do this. It's just one simple question, it shouldn't be this hard. It's not like you'll get rejected. Right?_

"Ah, Mr. Malfoy. Quite a surprise to see you here." The smile on Arthur Weasley's face was pleasant but it failed to make Draco any calmer. "Please, come in. Have a seat."

Draco stepped inside Arthur's office. It was tastefully decorated and the desk was neatly organized. It was after his latest promotion that Arthur had moved into this spacious office. One of his daughters-in-law worked as an interior designer. She had immediately seen an opportunity and hadn't waited a second before seizing it. Arthur hadn't really cared what his office looked like but his coworkers had been greatly impressed and hired her shortly afterwards.

Arthur gestured at one of the comfortable armchairs opposite his own seat behind the desk, and Draco sat down. Draco felt like he sunk too deep down in the chair and suddenly got a feeling of being two inches tall. This was not how he was supposed to feel. He was a Malfoy. Malfoys are always in control. Apparently not right now.

"What can I do for you today, Mr. Malfoy?" Arthur asked, still with the pleasant smile stuck on his face. Malfoy was nervous, that much was obvious.

"There's something I would like to ask you, Mr. Weasley," Draco said with a voice sounding far more confident than he felt.

"Go ahead then," Arthur prompted when Draco didn't continue. He leaned back in the chair and folded his hands in his lap.

"I would like your permission to marry your daughter," Draco blurted out in a rush. There, it was out. An answer would be wonderful to have right now.

"All right," Arthur said after what felt like an eternity. "You have my permission." Draco felt relief wash over him. See, it wasn't as hard as he had feared.

He made a move as if to rise but Arthur put up a hand to stop him. Draco gave him a confused look.

"On one condition." Arthur opened a drawer in his desk and took out a single piece of paper. "As you know, I have a big family. Ginevra is my youngest child and only daughter and both me and her brothers are very protective of her. Therefore, it is not my decision alone to give you permission to ask my daughter to marry you. It is important that all her brothers accept you. You have to get the signatures of all her six brothers on this piece of paper within a week. By this time in seven days, I want this exact paper with the signatures on my desk. Then you will have our official permission to propose to Ginny. Oh, and one more thing," he said as Draco got up to leave again, "Ginny isn't supposed to know a thing."

As soon as Draco left the office, Arthur grabbed the jar with Floo powder on his desk and threw some in the fire.

"I've given him the paper. Be prepared for a visit anytime within the next few days."

--

Draco stood outside Arthur's office, confounded with a piece of paper in his hand. Had he heard correctly? Had Mr. Weasley really asked him to get all of Ginny's brothers to sign this paper? He pinched his arm and then looked back down on the paper. No, this wasn't a dream. Then he might as well get started.

Since he was in the Ministry building, the most obvious choice was to start with Percy. Seeing as he was the least favourite of all of Ginny's brothers, Draco was not looking forward to the meeting.

"Oh, well. I might as well get it over with then." He stalked over to the nearest elevator and pushed the button to Percy's floor. The ride was too short. All too soon, he was at the topmost floor where Percy had moved sometime after his 14th promotion. How someone could be promoted to something higher than the right hand of the Minister 14 times was beyond Draco, but somehow, Percy had managed.

"Hello, how may I help you?" Percy's secretary, Dan, asked when Draco reached Percy's office. When George (or was it Fred) once had asked Percy why he had a male secretary, Percy claimed he had hired merely out of previous experience and merits. Dan had simply been the best and therefore hired. Fred and George were however convinced that it was because of a completely different reason. Dan's butt was too nice to just have good secretary merits. Since Percy still hadn't settled down with any woman, it made perfect sense. Percy had fought away those accusations with slightly red cheeks.

"I'm here to see Mr. Weasley Jr," Draco answered. Percy hated being called Jr. which was why all Ginny's brothers had started with it, and eventually it had rubbed it off on Draco too.

"Do you have an appointment?" Dan asked while organising the enormous piles of paper on his desk.

"No, I don't."

"You have to have an appointment if you want to see Mr. Weasley."

"Can I book an appointment then?" Draco asked getting slightly irritated with the secretary for not being very helpful.

"Sure." Dan looked through a calender that didn't seem to have a single white space. "Mr. Weasley is free on Tuesday," finally Draco was getting a bit of luck, "in five weeks." Or not.

"Is there any way of getting to see him sooner?" Draco asked through gritted teeth.

"I can write you up on the waiting list and we'll give you a call if Mr. Weasley becomes available."

"Fine," Draco said, deciding there was not much he could do in a situation like this.

--

Once out of the Ministry, Draco looked at his watch. 14:00. He had promised a dinner out with Ginny tonight. He had about three hours before having to go home to get ready. Plenty of time to get at least one signature. Now the question was whose.

Ron also worked at the Ministry but he had the day off today and was probably away somewhere with Granger and Potter, which meant that he was out of the question. Diagon Alley wasn't too far away from here. Both the twins and Bill worked there so he could always try them.

It turned out to be a bad idea. Saturday was apparently a very busy day in the Diagon Alley. Draco decided to head for Gringotts since getting the twins attention for more than a few seconds in their shop when it was crowded would be next to impossible.

Gringotts wasn't as filled with people. There were still some, but not that many. Finding Bill's office was surprisingly easy considering Draco had only been there once. He knocked firmly on the door and waited for an answer.

"Come in!" someone called on the other side of the door. Draco opened and walked in. Bill was standing by the fire as if he had just been talking with someone over the Floo. "Draco. Please, have a seat." What was it with these Weasley men and their seats? Were they trying to make him inferior by literally placing him lower than themselves?

"Mr. Weasley..." Draco started but was interrupted.

"Please, call me Bill. From what I've heard, we're going to be brothers-in-law soon." Wow, news sure travelled fast in this family.

"Yes. That is, if Ginny wants to marry me." Bill nodded. Malfoy seemed to already have got the point.

"That's right. 'Cause if Ginny says no then you will have been running around with that paper over there for no reason."

"Good you already know about it," Draco said, pushing the fear of Ginny saying no to the back of his mind. "Will you sign it?" Glad that Bill had already cut to the case for him, Draco reached out the paper to him.

"Sure." This was almost too easy. "On one condition." Draco groaned invardly, of course there had to be a catch. He nodded. He was ready to do anything to get this all over with as soon as possible. Bill placed his hands on the desk in front of Draco and leaned forward until he was to close for Draco's comfort. "I want you to understand that it you ever hurt my sister in any way, there is no place where you will be able to hide. Me and my brothers will hunt you down and make you pay for whatever you did in a very slow, painful way, and we'll make look like an accident. Do we understand each other." Bill said this all very quickly, but all too clearly and with such a serious look that it was enough to let Draco know that he was not joking.

"Absolutely," he answered while trying to as subtle as possible swallow to moisten his suddenly dry throat. Was the room this stuffy before?

"Good. I'm glad we're clear on that. Now where's the paper." Draco handed him the paper, waited for him to sign, then fought the impulse to run away as fast as possible all the way out of Gringotts.

One brother down, five to go. Where to next? He had approximately and hour and a half before having to get home. After much consideration, he decided to head home anyway. He could return to the twins' joke shop on Monday, when it would be less crowded.

--

"Hello!" Ginny called when he stepped in through the door to their flat.

"Hello!" he answered and made his way into the living room where the voice had come from. Ginny was laying in the couch with her head resting against some pillows and a book on her knees. She was distractedly twirling a strand of hair with one hand. Draco lifted her feet, sat down and put them in his own lap. "How's your day been?"

"Fine, I guess," she answered, seeming reluctant to look away from the book. Draco took matters into his own hands and playfully grabbed the book and held it out of arm's reach from her.

"Hey! At least let me finish the page!" Ginny tried to make a grab for it but Draco's arm was too long.

"Not until you greet me properly." He leaned towards her with a smirk on playing on his face. She got the hint and their lips met. Lost in the moment, Draco completely forgot about the book in his hand. It slowly slipped out of his grip and had within a millisecond fallen on his foot. He yelled, flew up and started jumping around. "Ow ow ow, why do read such heavy books?"

Ginny did her best to keep a straight face but it proved to be impossible. "If you hadn't just insulted my book I might have kissed your foot better," she teased.

"Evil woman," he mumbled as he sat down and nursed his aching foot. "I hurts."

"Aw, don't be such a baby." She kissed him on the forehead before getting up. "I'm going to start getting ready now. Are we going somewhere fancy tonight or should I have something more casual?" she called over her shoulder as she walked into the adjacent room.

"Go for casual!" Draco called back. He took a look around the room while still nursing his foot. His eyes lingered at the pictures above the fireplace. There were many pictures of Ginny and himself in many different places around the world, but also many of Ginny's family members.

One picture suddenly caught his eyes. It was of Percy and Ginny when they were younger. Ginny was sitting in his lap while they were looking through a book. He was most definitely trying to teach her to read even though she couldn't have been more than three.

"Hey, Ginny?" Draco called. An idea had suddenly struck him.

"What?" he heard from the bedroom.

"I was thinking we could invite one of your brothers over this week for dinner or something. If you're not too busy, of course." He hoped she wouldn't suspect anything. He usually wasn't very happy to see her brothers on any occasion, let alone actually invite them to his flat.

"No, I'm not busy. The real question should be if **they** are," she said as she came out of the bedroom, her hair put up in a loose bun as she always had it while putting on makeup. "Who did you have in mind?" she was using the mirror in the living room to apply some mascara and almost poked her eye out when Draco answered:

"Percy."

She stared at him in disbelief for a while before laughing hysterically. "That's funny!" she got out, tears starting to fall down her cheeks. She doubled over and almost fell to the floor, she was laughing so hard. "You almost had me there for a second!" She took a look at Draco's face. He was completely serious. She sobered up quickly. "You **were** kidding, right?"

"No, I'm serious. We almost never see him, and we've never had him here for dinner."

Ginny let out an empty laugh. "There's a reason for that you know. You can barely stand him on family get-togethers, how would you get through an entire evening with only him as a guest?"

She had a point. Draco could not imagine having to spend hours making small talk with Percy, but at this moment, he saw it as an only attempt to be sure to get his signature before the week was over.

"Fine, we can invite him," Ginny said when Draco didn't respond. "I'm not sure he'll be able to come though, he's usually very busy 24/7."

"We can try at least."

--

Day 2

It was Sunday. Sunday meant a day off. Perfect, Draco thought. What was even better was that Ginny was fully booked today. Not that he didn't enjoy her company, they had had a wonderful time last night, but with her out of the house it meant that he could Floo her brothers without being interrupted.

Draco was happy the Floo connections had become a lot better the last couple of years. Nowadays, one could even talk over the Floo internationally. One could not travel though, it was still to much of a risk to somehow fall out in a fireplace belonging to someone else on the way.

Draco decided to start with Charlie. Charlie was still living in Romania and it was therefore important to know when he would come visit this week so Draco wouldn't miss him, and thereby miss a signature.

"Well, hello there Draco," Charlie said when Draco appeared in the fireplace, it was almost as if he had been expected.

"Hello," Draco answered.

"What can I do for you a wonderful day like this?" Charlie asked with a smile on his face, pretending he had no idea what Draco was doing there.

"When are you coming up here so you can sign the paper?" Draco asked with a sigh, deciding it was best to cut straight to the case.

"You just want me there to sign your paper? You don't miss my wonderful company at all? I can't say that doesn't hurt me," Charlie faked a sad face.

"You're almost as much of a drama queen as the twins," Draco mumbled.

"Just don't let them hear you say that. They don't like competition. Now, about the paper, I will sign it. On one condition."

"What is it?" Draco asked, mentally kicking himself for ever thinking this would be easy.

"It seems as if I can't be able to visit within the week. I'm terribly sorry about that. So I guess you'll have to come down here yourself if you really feel like you want it signed," he said, not seeming the least bit sorry.

"I'll book a flight right away," Draco answered through gritted teeth. He could swear all the brothers had this all planned out.

"Sure, if you really want. I'll be here until Wednesday, I have to leave for a work thing then, so if you could try to be here before then. Tuesday would suit me fine."

"Tuesday it is," Draco answered still gritting his teeth. Once he had broken the Floo contact and was back in his own living room he started looking for flight times. He was not completely sure Charlie was lying but he would not take the chances of being there on Tuesday like he had been told, only to find out that Charlie had had to leave a day early.

He found didn't find any airplanes leaving the next day, but after some Floo calls and some bribing he had got himself a ticket that would not only take him to Romania before noon, but also home that evening. He would probably have to tell a white lie or two to Ginny, but once he'd gotten all the signatures it would all be worth it.

--

Day 3

He hadn't been able to get a hold of any other of Ginny's brothers the day before. In the evening when she had come home, he had told her that his work had Flooed him and that he would have to leave for a business trip early the next day. She hadn't been too happy about it, but had not seen through the bluff, for which Draco was grateful.

He was now standing outside a medium-sized house in the middle of nowhere in Romania. Why had Charlie decided to move here of all places? He knocked firmly. No answer. He knocked again. Still no answer.

Just as he was about to knock a third time did he hear something from within the house. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a curtain close as if someone had just looked through it and didn't want to be seen.

"Just open up Charlie! I know you're there!" He heard something else from the house and looked up to see a window open.

"I must admire your speed Draco. We really underestimated you about this, but you catch on very quickly."

"Would you just come down and sign the damn paper?" Draco hated airplanes and the just thought of being on one again very soon did not brighten his mood.

"I guess I could since you made it all the way over here."

--

Day 4

Draco arrived home at five a.m. the next morning. He was not in a good mood at all. Sure, he had gotten the hopefully hardest signature, but it had already passed four days and he had four more signatures to go.

"I tried to invite Percy over tonight but he's busy for a couple of weeks forward just as I thought," Ginny said at breakfast four hours after Draco's arrival.

"Oh, that's too bad," Draco answered, only half registering what she had said. His brain wasn't functioning properly due to lack of sleep.

"He did Floo however and asked for you."

"Really?" Draco perked up at this.

"Yes. He said something about you being there a few days ago but he had been busy then. He said he had a few free minutes this afternoon when he could see you though if you still needed to talk to him."

"What time?"

--

Those Weasleys really thought they were smart. What made them think they could fool him? Planning for him to actually follow what they told him and then only being available when they thought he would be somewhere else. Smart strategy, but it wasn't working on him.

Draco hadn't Flooed Percy to confirm their meeting out of fear that he would find a reason to cancel. Instead, Draco showed up unannounced at the time Ginny had said Percy was free. To say that Percy was surprised to see him there was an understatement.

"Hello," Draco greeted while leaning casually against the doorframe.

Percy jumped up out of his chair and nearly knocked a cup of coffee over the mountains of papers he had stacked on his desk.

"Oh, so it is you. Are you not supposed to be in Romania today?" he asked, clearly not pleased about Draco being there.

"So I was, but I made a slight change of plans. Or should I say planes. You can sign right there underneath Charlie's name," he said, his confidence almost hitting the roof.

"Sure I'll sign it. Just put it over there by all the other paper I need to sign and I'll get back to you when I'm done," he said, motioning towards the stacks of papers.

Draco's boost of confidence suddenly hit zero. "Can't you possible sign it now?" he asked, almost in desperation, knowing from personal experience the time it would take to just sign five of those papers. They would need to be looked through over and over again to make sure that the signer knew exactly what he agreed to.

"Fine. On one condition."

"What?" Draco asked, almost surprised at how fast Percy had been convinced. Most likely did he just want Draco out of there as soon as possible.

"Give me a good reason," Percy said simply.

"What?" Draco asked, not quite understanding what Percy meant.

"I'm a politician, I'll sign any paper as long as someone gives me a very good reason why. So, give me a good reason why I should allow you to ask my only sister to marry you. What makes you so much better than all the other men she could be with?"

Out of all of Ginny's brothers, Draco did not expect to get this question from Percy.

"Because I love her," he finally answered. "Because I know she loves me too. We are happy together right now and I will do everything I can to keep that happiness even after we get married. If she says yes of course. Also," Draco continued, now deciding to change tactics a bit, "I understand her. I know her well enough to know when she needs to be alone, to not have anyone hovering over her shoulder. I can respect that need unlike other people." He finished with a pointed look at Percy.

"The 'I love her' part would have been sufficient," Percy mumbled while signing the paper.

_Score! _

--

Day 5

Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. By far the most colourful shop in the entire Diagon Alley. It was Wednesday, the middle of the week which meant extremely few costumers. Perfect.

A bell chimed when Draco opened the door.

"I'll be out in a second!" someone called from the backroom. Draco heard some rustling and then a red-haired head poked out. "Oh, it's you!" The Weasley brother (Draco found it impossible to tell if it was Fred or George) seemed almost delighted to see him. But he only imagined that, right? "Fred, you better get down here! We have a visitor!" the man who apparently was George called up the staircase in the back.

"Coming!" Fred answered. George walked out of the room and was now fully in view. He was wearing an apron with some colourful liquids on. Some seemed to almost be boiling.

"So, Malfoy, what brings you here a wonderful day like this?" George's smile was to cheery for Draco's comfort.

"I came to get your signatures on this paper as you probably already knew," he said while warily watching the liquids as if they were to attack him any second.

"Ah, that paper. Sure we'll sign it..." George grabbed the paper.

"...on one condition," Fred finished just as he stepped through the door.

_Why should I even be surprised?_

"What's you condition then?" he said with a sigh. This was getting a bit silly.

Fred and George looked at each other. Their identical smiles were on the border of being classified as evil.

--

Three hours and a lot of candy-eating later, Draco stepped out of the shop, anything but happy. The twins had developed a line of new products but hadn't found anyone to test them on yet. Draco had of course been the perfect choice. They had given him product after product to test and had stood by watching and noting the side effects.

Luckily for Draco, the side effects hadn't been as severe as he had feared but his left arm was still a but furry after being turned into a monkey and several other animals, and he had a few itches in places there was no way he could scratch in public. Therefore, he made his way home as quickly as possible.

--

Day 6

One day left. One signature left.

Today was the perfect day to get Ron's signature. He was working, Potter was away, and the sun was shining. The sun shining really had nothing to do with the signature but it was always a good sign.

Since Draco had been at work all day, (he had considered skiving but since he had been away so much this week it wasn't the best idea) he hadn't had time to visit Ron until now, late in the afternoon.

Draco walked quickly through the Auror department to the office he knew Ron shared with Potter. He knocked on the door and waited for a "Come in" before entering.

"Hello Malfoy," Ron greeted unenthusiastically without looking up from the papers on his desk.

"Hello Weasley," Draco greeted back. "Since you seem to have a lot to do, I'll make this quick. Will you sign this paper?" he reached out the paper and a pen towards Ron. The sooner he got out of there the better.

"No," Ron answered simply, still without looking up.

"What?"

"I said no." Ron looked up now. "Ever considered getting those ears checked?"

"Aren't you supposed to say something like, 'sure I'll sign it, on one condition' and then give me some crazy task to do?"

"No, I'm just going to refuse to sign it. Do you really think I'll let my sister marry **you**?" Draco was stunned. He had not expected this. "If that was all you may leave now."

Draco was shocked and actually about to leave when an idea struck him.

"It's not up to you who your sister can marry or not," he said as he turned around and faced Ron, "This paper only allows me to ask her, but in the end, the decision is all hers. If I were to leave her now, as you clearly want me to, and you were to find someone else whom you saw more fit to take care of her, then he would not only have to go through all this, but also the extreme torture of actually asking Ginny the important question if she wants to marry him or not. She could reject him in a second and that is the biggest humiliation a man could go through. So, by not signing this paper, you're actually saving me from that horrible fate. If you really think I'm so bad for her as you seem to think, then she will say no for sure. So by signing, only a simple word spelled y-e-s will stand in the way of me being completely humiliated."

Ron looked to be in deep thought for a while.

"Gimme the paper," he finally said.

Draco could not keep away the smile spreading on his face.

--

Day 7

Draco awoke with a smile on his face. Today was the day. Today was the day he would ask Ginny to marry him. He had waited too long for this and now he was finally able to do it. As soon as he had handed the paper over to Mr. Weasley before noon, then he could start planning for the evening.

He glanced over at the clock. 11:00. NO! This could not be happening! Draco flew out of bed, grabbed the closest clothes he could reach and then ran out to the kitchen grabbing keys and wallet on the way.

"Good morning, honey!" Ginny greeted him from the kitchen table where she was currently having breakfast. "Why in such a hurry?"

"You're up? Why didn't you wake me too?!" Draco's tone made Ginny's happy face disappear. It wasn't often Draco got so worked up about something, especially not something she had done.

"I'm sorry," she said in a small voice while Draco was still running around, apparently looking for something important. "I didn't know you had to be somewhere today. This is usually your day off so I figured you wanted to sleep in."

Draco noticed her distressed look. Oh no, this was not good.

"No no, it's my fault sweetheart." he knelt in front of her and placed on hand on her leg and the other cupped her cheek. "I didn't tell you about my meeting today. I'm sorry. I'm just in a real hurry right now, I didn't mean to yell at you. All right? Are we okay?" Ginny nodded. "Great! I'll take you out someplace tonight. There it is!" he noticed the paper with the signatures. He was sure he had put it on the living room table last night and didn't understand how it had ended up on the kitchen counter, but he didn't have any time to dwell on that.

As soon as he got out of the door, he Apparated to an alley close to the Ministry of Magic. He had exactly fifteen minutes to get up and find Arthur. Of course, his major bad luck still hung in there. The ministry was crowded. It took him way too long to just have his wand checked and then even longer to get to the elevators.

Once he got out on the right floor he spotted Mr. Weasley right away and made a run for it.

"Mr. Weasley! I've got...the...paper!" Draco didn't care that he was right now completely humiliating himself in front of several important Minstry officials. He handed over the paper to Arthur, still panting from his sprint.

"You're late," Arthur said simply.

Draco slowly lifted his head to look at the clock on the nearby wall. Two minutes past. What was he supposed to do now?

"But," Arthur continued, "since you seem to care about it enough to humiliate yourself at the Ministry, I'll let it pass. Give me a pen and I'll sign it." Draco smiled to himself. He and his soon-to-be father-in-law would probably get along just fine.

--

When Draco came home that night he was exhausted. He had been out all day trying to find a suitable restaurant for himself and Ginny but that, just as so many other things, had proved to be impossible. Not only hadn't he found a restaurant, but all flower shops seemed to be out of roses too. The proposal would have to wait until another day.

When he opened the door to the flat he was hit with the mixed smell of food and roses. Weird. He stepped inside and saw that not only all the vases, but also the floor and every single free surface in the flat was covered with fresh roses. He made his way into the dimly lit living room.

Ginny was standing there, more beautiful than ever, dressed in a dark-green evening gown. It was strapless, long enough to touch the floor and clung to her wonderful figure perfectly. It was a dress he had bought to her a while ago on a business trip.

"I thought it would be fitting for tonight since you said we would go somewhere fancy. Then when I went to see Bill this morning about the paper I found on the living room table last night," so it was she who had moved it, "he told me about the prank he and my other brothers had decided to pull on you tonight. Well, he didn't exactly tell me, I had to force it out of him." Draco chuckled. "Since they had contacted every restaurant in town and bribed them to not let you in I decided we could have dinner home instead. The flowers are all the roses from every single store in London that my brothers have bought, since they apparently didn't want you to give me any flowers either."

"You cooked?" Draco mentally slapped himself for asking such a stupid question at a time like this, but since Ginny had almost burned down the place last time she tried to cook, Draco felt it necessary to ask anyway.

"No, of course not. One of my sisters-in-law did. Now, don't you have another question to ask me?" Ginny smiled that secret smile that she always reserved for him. It let him know that she knew exactly what he was about to do, and for some reason, he didn't mind as much as he thought he would.

"Yes, I do." He walked over to her, took one of her hands in his own and got down on one knee. He started with the speech he had prepared for so long, "Ginny, all my life I've been looking for someone who I might want to spend my life with. I wasn't even sure such a woman even existed before I met you. I love you with all my heart and I hope you feel the same way. And there's a thousand more things I wanted to say but seeing you here tonight has made my mind go completely blank," she let out a laugh mixed with nervousness and happiness, "So, Ginevra Molly Weasley, will you marry me?" he took the box with the ring out of his pocket and opened it.

Ginny looked down at him with tears glistening in her eyes. "Yes, Draco Malfoy, I will marry you."

Draco felt ready to explode out of happiness. He put the ring on her finger and got up. He leaned in for a kiss, but was stopped with a finger on his lips.

"On one condition," she added with a smile. "If you promise to never go through with any of my family members stupid ideas ever again."

"I promise," he said and their lips finally met.


End file.
